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As always, Colin, the resident expert on everything, was the one to finally explain. He took a step forward, looking rather amused as he pointed below her head. “The massive hickey on your neck gives away the fact that you probably had sex with Leo.”
Piper’s head snapped backward, and her mouth fell open as she flung a hand up to her neck to frantically cover the mark. She was going to fucking murder Leo.
“Other side, sis,” Pearl giggled, and Piper transferred her hand over as she stared down at the floor.
“No, that’s not—” Piper sputtered, trying to find some way around the obvious mark Leo had left on her. How the hell had she not noticed it at the hotel that morning? It was on the side Leo would have seen the entire three-hour drive, too, which only confirmed what a giant asshole he was.
“Let’s go talk, shall we?” Talia latched onto Piper’s wrist and pulled.
“I’m coming!” Pearl singsonged.
“Same. I absolutely need to hear this,” Amala said with glee, trailing on Piper’s heels and stopping with a hand out when Jayla followed. “Not you.”
“Mom, I know what sex is.” Jayla rolled her eyes. Piper darted her eyes to Cooper, who took one giant and frantic step away from Jayla, yanking on Camden’s arm to drag him away from the conversation, too. “I’m thirteen, not four.”
“Still too young to be doing anything.” Roscoe narrowed his eyes at Cooper, who took another giant step backward and flinched when he ran into Walker’s chest. Cooper and Jayla had been friends since they were eight. Camden had also befriended the both of them back then, too, but no one gave him the same look her brother was getting. Camden seemed too focused on eyeing Pearl to pay any attention to the conversation at all. It was a new development, but not at all surprising given how stunning Piper’s sister was. Pearl never gave Camden the time of day, though. Whether it was because she was oblivious or just grossed out by her little brother’s best friend liking her, Pearl never said a word.
A loud clearing of Walker’s throat and a hard press of his hands into Camden’s shoulders broke the kid out of whatever Pearl-obsessed trance he was in. Cooper and Camden both looked the picture of guilt, although if Piper had to bet, neither of them actually was. There was a fog of hormonal teenage weirdness in the air, and it was wildly amusing. “C-Squared,” the nickname given to the boys by Jayla herself, were both in that weird stage where sex seemed equal parts terrifying and enticing. Currently, it seemed like they were taking the terrified route, slowly backing away from the group of adults. While Piper was thankful for the turn in the conversation, it reminded her she was the only person in the room who was truly guilty, hand still pressed over where Leo’s mouth had been.
Jayla should have also been in her awkward teen phase, but she had skipped over any embarrassment at all and steamrolled right back into the conversation with a loud snap of her fingers. “Calm down, everyone. I haven’t done the nasty yet.” She laughed and tossed her golden box braids over her shoulder. “C-Squared haven’t, either. Sidney did kiss Cooper once, though.”
“I told you that in confidence,” Cooper hissed.
“Sidney? Ooooh,” Piper crooned. She had absolutely no idea who Sidney was, and if she had to bet, Cooper didn’t even kind of care about Sidney. He’d never admit it, but Piper was fairly certain that Cooper had liked Jayla from moment one. Carter had tried to bet Walker once that Cooper and Jayla would end up together, and Walker refused to take the bet—that was how aware everyone else was of their bond.
“You never told me that.” Camden’s mouth dropped open, and he glared at Cooper.
“You were… busy,” Cooper finished lamely. “Did Jayla tell you that Theo kissed her?”
“I’m going to murder you, Cooper Dale Hartrick!” Jayla shouted. Piper held back a laugh at the made-up middle name that was nowhere near Cooper’s legal one. She was starting to think that maybe her own love life wasn’t as screwed up as she had thought it was. This entire ordeal felt like a soap opera.
“You started it, Jayla Eleanor Winston,” Cooper shot back. Also not Jayla’s middle name.
“What in the ever-loving fuck is going on?” Roscoe whirled on his daughter and then locked eyes with his wife. “Tell me you didn’t know about this. Who the hell is Theo?”
“I plead the fifth.” Amala grinned.
“Theo,” Cooper mumbled. “Is a dick.”
“Language!” Walker huffed on cue.
“He really is a dick, though,” Camden agreed and waved a hand over his face in a circular motion. “Huge nose, too. It feels like you’re talking to his second ego. Maybe Jayla should break it for him. We all know she has a mean right hook.”
“She taught me how to throw a punch once.” Pearl smiled sweetly.
“Really?” Camden bounced and gestured to himself. “Punch me in the face.”
“Why the hell would you want that?” Colin furrowed his brow. “I think if we want to test her punching capabilities, you should hold a pillow.”
“I think it’s time we leave all the men to stew, don’t you?” Amala turned to Talia conversationally.
“Probably best if we don’t want Walker and Roscoe to go on a tirade and Jayla and Pearl to start a boxing club owned by Colin.” Talia tipped her head in the direction of the stairs.
“Coincidentally, our butcher at Lydia’s is a boxing instructor.” Amala gave a cheeky grin to Piper over her shoulder. “And Leo’s father.”
Piper followed reluctantly, still clutching onto her neck. She’d much rather all the focus be off her, but Leo had made that impossible. Even as she made her way up the stairs, she could feel every eye in the foyer following her, her uncle’s searing glare stronger than anyone else’s. Walker had always maintained extremely unreasonable expectations about her love life, and she wasn’t sure why she thought that would stop after she was out of the house and on her own. Adults had sex, and while Walker was making up for her lack of a father figure, it didn’t change the fact that she wasn’t a baby anymore. She’d probably forever be sixteen in her uncle’s eyes, the age she had been when he’d lost his brother and sister-in-law and she’d lost her parents. Sometimes she felt like she was right back there in the aftermath, unable to control her emotions and living on the edge of tears. Being locked in the stone-faced smile she had curated as an adult was easier.
Twenty-Nine
